Locked Up
by MoonlitMountain
Summary: Korra and Mako are locked in the practice room after some cunning planning by Bolin.


There were many things that Korra had always dreamed of doing sometime in her life. Unfortunately, being locked in the pro-bending practice room with probably the world's most stoic, presumptuous firebender was _not _one of them.

She should have known not to trust Bolin. He'd come to the both of them earlier in the day, grinning and rambling on and on about some new moves he'd mastered and wanted to show to the team. Though they were free to have the day off, Korra was never one to pass up an opportunity to work on her bending. Even Mako eventually agreed that some more practice couldn't hurt, considering how much they needed to win the tournament.

Of course, neither of the two were expecting to arrive to an empty room, exactly at the time Bolin said they should be there.

"Where do you think he is?" Mako asked, slightly frowning.

"You think I know?" Korra responded. "Maybe he just… forgot?"

"After all that talk he made earlier? Not likely." He paused. "Although, this is Bolin we're talking about-"

The sound of creaking metal filled the room. They both turned quickly, just in time to see the doors swing shut behind them.

"What the…" Mako leaned forward, reaching for the doorknob. Then he frowned. "It's locked." He turned back around, sitting down against the door with a sigh.

Now, Korra would like to say it took her now time at all to figure out that this whole mess was a setup created by Bolin for some unknown reason. In reality, however, it took a lot longer than it should have for her to come to this realization.

She plopped down next to Mako, looking up at the ceiling. "You know your brother did this, right?" She asked him, making a mental reminder that she was going to kill him for this later.

"Yeah, I know."

She spun to face Mako, incredulous. "Really? Why didn't you tell me you already knew?"

"I figured you should be smart enough to figure it out on your own," he responded, a small smirk on his lips.

_Seriously, did this guy come out of the womb a jerk? _She thought.

In the minutes that followed, the pair searched relentlessly for any sort of way to unlock the door, or at least to find a way outside, quickly finding the search to prove itself pointless; the doors had been locked from the outside. Whether they liked it or not, they were stuck with each other.

Korra stood from where she knelt searching on the floor and grinned. "You know what? I'm actually gonna take some time to get some practicing in."

Mako scoffed. "Right now? Shouldn't we be finding a way out of here?"

"You know, I'm not really sure where you've been the past half hour, but that's kind of what we've been doing. Uselessly, I might add." She grinned at him. "And here I was, thinking you'd be all for some extra practice time. Seems you're not as much of a workaholic as you let on, huh?"

He chuckled softly, throwing Korra off-guard. Did he really just laugh? Did she really just _make _him laugh? "I'm not a workaholic," he said.

"Sure, just like I'm not the Avatar."

She turned to face one of the practice dummies in the center of the room, suddenly growing serious. Winning the tournament was important to her, but that wasn't the main reason for her determination. Like she said, she was the Avatar. It was her duty to protect her people, and that wouldn't come without hard work.

She raised her hands to her chin, finding her stance. With a deep breath, she punched lightly at the air, sending short bursts of water in the dummy's direction. She would never tell him out loud, but she sometimes observed Mako covertly during the matches, trying to find ways to imitate his posture and style of fighting. She hadn't mastered it yet, but she was trying.

The minutes passed in utter silence. After a while, not being able to stand it any longer, she paused her movements, glancing back at Mako, who was doing nothing but staring at her. Except for some reason, she felt a blush creep up her cheeks under his gaze.

"W-What is it?" She questioned.

"Nothing," he responded. "You know, you look good." He froze, and his face flushed pink as well. He cleared his throat. "I, uh, I mean... I meant your technique. I can tell you've been working hard, that's all."

Korra couldn't think of a time where all-important Mako tripped over his words, let alone started _blushing._ In fact, she wouldn't have even thought it was possible if it wasn't right in front of her face. And she had to admit, she found it extremely adorable.

She shook her head, quickly returning to her waterbending. No time to think about that now. There were more important things to worry about than attractive boys who made you blush, or the butterflies swarming around in her stomach, or the immense desire she suddenly felt to drop everything and wrap her arms around him-

Pressure on her chin broke her thoughts. Her head was turned gently until she was looking behind her again.

And then Mako's lips were on hers.

The kiss was soft and sweet and immensely, amazingly perfect. Her concentration lost, she felt the water around her fall to the ground, making a puddle under their feet. Her body moved of its own accord, wrapping her arms around Mako's neck and pulling him closer.

They pulled away for air, and Mako grinned down sheepishly at her.

"Sorry I, uh, couldn't help myself?"

Korra smiled, pressing her lips gently against his again, making a mental note to say thank you for Bolin for doing this for her. After she killed him for it, though.


End file.
